As Jim Geraghty noted this morning, last night, President Obama’s personal Twitter account and campaign website laid out a ridiculous demand of Americans for Prosperity, resorting to the standard left-wing scare tactics about the Koch brothers:
Americans for Prosperity, the special-interest front group run by the oil billionaire Koch brothers, is claiming that its donors are “tens of thousands” of folks “from all walks of life.” We’re asking them to prove it by disclosing their donors to the public. Demand the truth by adding your name.
In a press release this morning, AFP responded:
Americans for Prosperity was an active advocate for economic freedom long before “Obama for America” existed. Those involved in the public policy arena are well aware that AFP is a genuine grassroots force that has grown steadily over the past eight years, and now includes 34 state chapters and affiliates and over 1.9 million citizen activists. The positive impact of AFP activists has been well documented and felt across the nation. . . .
Sadly, it’s not just paid political operatives like Messina who do the attacking and spread the falsehoods. In this Administration the supposed “government servants” who serve at taxpayer expense launch the attacks as well.
Austan Goolsbee, then a senior economic advisor in the Obama White House, suggested to reporters on a conference call that the Administration should look into the tax returns of the Kochs. Why this ominous attack from the Obama White House on private Americans? Simple. The Kochs were opposed to the big government policies of the Administration. . . .
The President himself attacked Americans for Prosperity by name in 2010 on almost two dozen occasions, blaming AFP for his troubles. And now in 2012, his campaign is already attacking AFP again. Just last week, in a national email, they blamed AFP and other Americans for his failure on the energy front. Americans know better and they deserve better from their elected leaders.